PALM DESERT, Calif. – Let’s be honest.
In many respects, the modern-day LPGA is more interesting than the PGA Tour.
Take, for example, rivalries. Heading into Sunday’s final round of the Samsung World Championship here at Bighorn Golf Club, golf fans will be treated once again to the fireworks of the biggest contemporary rivalry in professional golf – Lorena Ochoa vs. Suzann Pettersen.
Just last weekend, Pettersen birdied her brains out to beat Ochoa on the second hole of a sudden death playoff at the Longs Drugs Challenge.
Pettersen, the flamboyant Norwegian, is 26. Ochoa, the Mexican who wears the crown of No. 1 in the world, will be 26 in November. These two are likely to be fierce rivals for a long, long time.
Too bad there currently is no American in the mix, but professional golf truly is a global game. That’s why the Solheim Cup should be the United States against the world and not the United States against Europe, but, what the heck, we can’t have everything.
In men’s golf, the closest rival to Tiger Woods is Phil Mickelson, although this is little more than an occasional rivalry. The real contest here is Woods against the rest of the universe, and we must be content to wait for a relentless rival to emerge.
So Ochoa vs. Pettersen is by far the best we’ve got right now, and it’s an intriguing matchup.
• • •
Let’s be honest.
Angela Park, the 2007 LPGA Rookie of the Year, has the best golf swing in women’s golf.
Park has worked since she was 12 with instructor Don Brown, who teaches at Harbor Golf Practice Center in Wilmington, Calif.
Who says the big-name teachers are best? Brown has a gift, and it’s not exactly a secret among Los Angeles area golfers. I called Harbor Golf to inquire about a lesson and was told Brown had an opening – in about three weeks.
My prediction is that Park eventually will rise to No. 1 in the world. She is that talented.
• • •
Let’s be honest.
Golf instructors come in 100 different flavors, from unruffled and observant to loud and boastful.
The best teachers seem to be able to relate a particular movement in the swing to a specific feeling. In other words, the instructor might say “Feel this” rather than “Do this” in describing a swing technique.
As I listened to Brown talk about Park’s swing, this is exactly what he was doing.
I have taken hundreds of lessons. Although I have enjoyed almost all of them, only a handful have really helped me lower my scores.
My wish for every golfer: Find a teacher with whom you are comfortable, a teacher whose vocabulary matches your own. After all, the foundation of successful golf instruction is effective communication.
• • •
Let’s be honest.
Michelle Wie should ditch David Leadbetter and go back to instructor Gary Gilchrist.
First, though, Wie should concentrate on academics at Stanford and forget serious golf. Once she is finished with school, golf awaits.
To those who believe I’ve been too harsh on Wie, I say this: I am on record as predicting she will win each of the four majors for women, and I stick by that forecast. First, though, she has to grow up.
• • •
Let’s be honest.
The Samsung World Championship desperately needs to revise its qualifying standards. The top 10 in the world rankings should be in the field automatically.
This year, No. 2 Karrie Webb and No. 3 Annika Sorenstam didn’t qualify under existing standards. There is something very wrong with this picture.
If the field is increased from 20 to, say, 24, so be it. To justify its use of the title World Championship, the tournament needs to update its qualifying requirements.
• • •
Let’s be honest.
No top-tier player in women’s golf hits more sloppy shots than Paula Creamer.
Just wait until Creamer adds that one missing element – consistency – to her game. She will join Ochoa, Pettersen, Park and a few others in the locomotive that drives the LPGA train.
• • •
Let’s be honest.
Although NBC kept insisting that 19-year-old Park was more comfortable playing with good friend Creamer (second and third rounds) than Wie (first round), the reality was that Park joined 18-year-old Wie for dinner on both Tuesday and Wednesday nights and has grown close to her tall 18-year-old rival.
Wait a minute! Did I say rival? Scratch that.
Rivalries, such as Ochoa vs. Pettersen, are forged in the heat of battle and not in the cool friendship of dinner.
Posted: 10/13/2007
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